Greg, Cat, and Sam joined us for a hike up Wolf Mountain Trail at Pedernales Falls on Sunday. This is one of the more popular trails in the park, but we had never done it. The trail is pretty wide and well graded with gravel the whole way, but still gains some elevation and has some decent views, as well as crossing over a couple of beautiful creeks.

We got out to the trail about 9am and Sam took off with his doggie hiking shoes that are always a big point of conversation with other hikers we come upon. He has to wear them, at least at first, because he goes so hard that he rips the pads off his paws otherwise. The first creek we crossed was Bee Creek. We took a few photos and Sam took a bath. We were starting to feel the temperature rise already.

thirsty Sam

Court and Cat

We started to gain elevation and found a short side trail up to a lookout point.

wide trail – it was like this the entire way

lookout halfway up Wolf Mountain

We continued on to the small loop around Wolf Mountain and then headed back down the way we came. On the second crossing of the creeks, we stopped for a while to let Greg experiment with his new camera. I’ve always wanted to be able to get the waterfall shots where the water looks like silk. Greg got a couple of good ones.

Court and Cat way in the background

Greg’s photoGreg’s photoGreg’s photoGreg’s photo

While we were waiting, a biker came by and told us about a swimming hole and a cliff jumping spot just off the trail. We didn’t have time to do it ourselves, but I definitely would have. I got a good video of the biker jumping in. With the temperature creeping toward 90 and the humidity out of control, it would have been amazing.

Swimmin’ hole!

But alas, it was time to head home. I also got to try out my Gaia tracking app, as the Trimble Outdoors app I have always used is being retired. The Gaia app was $20, but so far seems well worth it and the reviews are stellar. The satellite seems much more consistent, you can see your track in real time as you go, and you can also export your track to Google Earth. I’ll learn how to use it a bit better in the future and figure out all the whistles and bells.